Marc Weidenbaum's Blog, page 442
November 14, 2013
Aphex Twin / Chapter Titles
With the pre-press proofreading of the text nearly complete, these are the chapter titles for my forthcoming book in the 33 1/3 series on Aphex Twin’s 1994 album Selected Ambient Works Volume II. The book will be published on February 13, 2014, just weeks before the 20th anniversary of the album’s original release:
Chapter 1: There Is No Volume I
Chapter 2: Background Beats
Chapter 3: A Chill-Out Room of One’s Own
Chapter 4: Synesthetic Codex
Chapter 5: Transcribing Vapor
Chapter 6: Embedding Vapor
Chapter 7: Selected Ambient Works Volume III
Available for pre-order from amazon.com and elsewhere.
November 13, 2013
Percussion + Piano
Some rough percussion, like rubber bands imitating rain drops, or stretched leather grating under pressure, or the cabin of a wooden boat tossed in a gentle storm. A single piano line, played solemnly, like a lullaby on a deceased friend’s dilapidated instrument, slightly out of tune in specific spots, each note lingering far longer than might seem possible, pools of notes piling on the floor beside the stool.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/martinrach. More from Rach at martinrach.com.
November 12, 2013
Music for Yorkshire Dales National Park
The track “Heather Spa” takes its name from a spot in the Yorkshire Dales National Park that has served as an inspiration to musician Dennis Huddleston, who records and performs under the two-digit moniker 36. The track is an achingly beautiful expanse of slowly unfolding harmonic lushness, the sonic equivalent of watching rough surf churn in slow motion.
Track originally posted to soundcloud.com/astrangelyisolatedplace. Get the full album at astrangelyisolatedplace.com. More from Huddleston at 3six.net.
November 11, 2013
Cutest Little Synth You Ever Did See
Peter Kirn, of CreateDigitalMusic.com, has been exploring the littleBits Synth Kit, developed with KORG. It is a modular analog synthesizer that comes as a collection of small and interchangeable, mix-and-match parts. In addition to a power supply there are these functions: random, micro sequencer, filter, mix, synth speaker, oscillators (a pair), keyboard, envelope, delay, and split. To demo it, Kirn recorded a small bunch of “live jams,” each labeled as an etude. This is his “littleBits Synth Kit Etude #1,” a charming pulsing chime:
Track orginally posted at soundcloud.com/peterkirn.
More on the littleBits Synth Kit at littlebits.cc/kits.
November 9, 2013
Past Week at Twitter.com/Disquiet
https… ->
I've no doubt gotten a lot more use out of my (gen 2) Nexus 7 by not putting it in a case, but the thing is taking a beating. ->
21 tracks (so far) in tribute to the late Lou Reed and his classic Metal Machine Music: http://t.co/R2Qujl5ath ->
Street music. #readymade #speaker #urbanstudies #gadget #waste #progress http://t.co/brGTJRxjUW ->
"An obscure guitar pedal was for him another kind of poem." Patti Smith on Lou Reed: http://t.co/7NhB9jeo5O via @pheezy ->
The calendar in Mavericks is a huge improvement. It's downright elegant. ->
Now 28 tracks inspired by the late Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music: http://t.co/cEZ52F7IZ9. And still almost half a day to go. ->
Just sent email newsletter to http://t.co/A2xaR3KK3n list with contest for free 33 1/3 sampler. To subscribe, here: http://t.co/7gtoM0uy6N ->
Tuesday noon siren in San Francisco: http://t.co/FrVmKgO1Mx ->
I haven't been to Japan in about four years. Maybe I should start thinking about October 2014, when Red Bull Music Academy lands there. ->
Been reading Dave Eggers' The Circle. So far I've learned that he uses commas even more often than I do. I need to step up my game. ->
Any sufficiently advanced use of technology is described as hacking. ->
Getting excited about the Oulipo sound workshop I'll run at San Francisco Art Institute this Saturday: http://t.co/vtqV0931iR ->
Bingo. MT @AnnieGilbertson: Fitting for meeting I'm sitting in discussing #lausd student "hacking". They just deleted security file #nomagic ->
Thing I learned today: updates of Arthur C. Clarke quotes are of interest to people. #magic ->
My edit of Clarke's 3rd law came after I read opening of Eggers' The Circle + headline about Mayor Ford hiring "hacker" to delete the video. ->
Tomorrow in the sound class I teach: student "sound audits" of various consumer products. Next week: what sound looks like. ->
static gif #recentretronyms ->
Yo, Google: Any sense of when spreadsheets will work offline in OS X? #nudge ->
Jealous. MT @mrbiggsdotcom: Cardiff's 40-part motet at Cloisters, in Fuentiduenas Chapel. Thought of you @disquiet http://t.co/YCiMlDA2kQ ->
Great student presentations today in sound class (1) about breathing in yoga and (2) about audio in film. ->
Sad to read about Internet Archive's fire damage, but sounds like it's OK. Great resource online and neighbor here in the Richmond District. ->
Maybe we need to sort out some sort of @NASAJuno Junto. ->
Kinda hoped OuPhoPo was a workshop for potential Vietnamese food, but is happy to look at experimental photography. ->
"What's this box with the levers on it next to the turntables?" Kid Koala on taking his Jazzy Jeff LP to RadioShack: http://t.co/Q49pk1jPM5 ->
San FranciscOuLiPo: last night at City Lights, tonight at Mechanics Inst, Friday at Green Apple, Saturday at SFAI: http://t.co/INt3wG28eo ->
Vague relief that Mail-app freezing issues in OS X Mavericks is being addressed: http://t.co/CYJS4GZoqz. Still visiting Geniuses tomorrow. ->
OS X Maverick, in which Apple plays cards with your data's fate. #badjamesgarnerjoke ->
Just tried Ford Madox Ford's "Page 99 Test" on my Aphex Twin / SAW2 book and it's all drones, power-grid hum, and movie scores. Not bad. ->
Speaker on rear of crossing-signal button box. #urbanstudies. #traffic #yellow #electricbirds http://t.co/iCZRtG5ZrL ->
Checking out the SFAI room where this Saturday I'm running an Oulipo/Disquiet Junto sound workshop. http://t.co/KLZrtPFzsx #oumupo ->
Tonight at the SF Mechanics' Institute, 3 Oulipians & 1 fellow Pessoa-head read from 50 years of experimental writing http://t.co/B1ZfM6MgnZ ->
TRS-808 is my new DJ name. ->
In light of the Oulipo activity in San Francisco this week, the Disquiet Junto will have a literary theme, transforming words into music. ->
Hope you can join in. MT @c_yantis: Thrilled, though honestly not that surprised, to see that Ford Madox Ford has found his way into a Junto ->
Do it up! #bonkers RT @Le_Berger: An 80 notes melody? That @djunto guy is bonkers. ->
Re-upped with a Mechanics Institute Library membership today. Was a member back in the late 1990s when I first moved to San Francisco. ->
Thanks to a tweet by @DavidjHendy ( https://t.co/oov7cychVb ) for inspiring this week's @djunto project: http://t.co/PT8LBLTJ4q ->
Great fun this evening at the Oulipo event at the Mechanics' Institute. Tomorrow at Green Apple, Saturday at San Francisco Art Institute. ->
Judging by io9 comments today people hate cliffhangers more than spoilers so much that they support spoilers about cliffhangers. #9timesfast ->
MT @mutagene: wrote ruby script to help with week's disquiet junto https://t.co/bDouSIiSbp . accuracy not guaranteed. now for the hard part. ->
Love when stuff is added to @academia it says "uploaded a paper on http://t.co/oDJvAqVamI" as if every paper's about http://t.co/oDJvAqVamI. ->
RIP, San Francisco DJ/musician Cheb I Sabbah (1947-2013): http://t.co/rOGTYg7P5s http://t.co/eTrcNJp4Lx ->
Headed to Green Apple books shortly for the evening's reading of work by the late Georges Perec. Tomorrow: Oulipo sound workshop at SFAI. ->
A helpful reminder during the Q&A that plenty of Oulipo, public readings aside, isn't funny. Takes pressure off tomorrow's music event. ->
Code to Decode
The latest Disquiet Junto finds music hidden in everyday books. The project began Thursday evening, November 7, and ends this coming Monday, November 11, at 11:59pm. It ends not at midnight but at 11:59pm, as do all Junto projects, because early on in the Junto series it became clear to me that when you type “midnight Monday” sometimes people don’t know if you meant the midnight that began Monday or the midnight that ended Monday. These sorts of distinctions are important, because the framing structure of the Junto is as much a set of rules as are the rules of a given project.
If there were two key rules about writing rules they would probably be:
Make sure the rules work.
Make sure the rules aren’t likely to be misinterpreted.
Each of the weekly projects has its own vibe, its own likely/intended audience of participants, and its own surprises, and when it comes to surprises — especially in the form of generous contributions of code from participants — this week is no exception. A few notes follow regarding this week’s project, which involves transforming into music 80 characters selected from page 99 a book selected by the musician. The page number, 99, was selected from a comment by the author Ford Madox Ford (more details at the project page).
1: Shortly after project’s announcement, I got a note from Junto member David Wilkins, who has done text->music work in the past. He directed me to his website wilkinsworks.net, from which this is excerpted:
The earliest known version of this system appeared in the Renaissance as a technique called soggetto cavato, first used by Josquin des Prez around 1500, and later named by Zarlino in his 1558 treatise Le institutioni harmoniche as soggetto cavato dalle vocali di queste parole, or literally, a subject ‘carved out of the vowels from these words.’ des Prez only used the vowels, mapping them to the solmization syllables, and using the resulting notes as the cantus firmus for the Missa Hercules dux Ferrariae and other works. …
My first foray into this idea occurred in 1976 while an undergrad music student, waiting for a recital to begin. There is a famous organ work by Bach, based on his own name, which gave me the idea in the first place. In German, B is B flat and H is B natural. Being an American I wanted to use the A through G as is, so had to start with H as something else. Being a trombonist I tend to favor flats over sharps, so assigned H to A flat, I to B flat, and up to the first twelve notes. Start over again with M assigned to A, and so on for the remaining letters.
2: Junto participant Mutagene posted to github.com a script in the Ruby language to help automate the process of changing letters and punctuation into notes:
3: And Junto member Defaoieclan wrote a piece of software in Processing that would likewise assist in the transform. Full piece at the track’s page. Here’s the opening part:
4: And Junto member Inlet wrote something in Supercollider, available at the track’s page. Here’s the opening part:
November 8, 2013
Student Work: Yoga Breathing
The work shared below is a segment of a project by a student, Karina Saroyan, enrolled in the course I teach at the Academy of Art here in San Francisco. The course is about the role of sound in the media landscape. Saroyan’s four audio tracks were part of an in-class presentation she gave this past Wednesday. Each of the course’s students (there are a dozen or so) give a short, ten-minute presentation at some point during the semester. The presentations don’t begin until several weeks in, at least until we’ve gotten the initial three class sessions done — those are focused on learning to listen, in part through exercises and in part through reflections on history, media, commerce, physiology and other useful perspectives.
The in-class student presentations are research projects, but the instruction is to focus the research on something that is already important to the student: i.e., don’t go researching the physiology of the human ear if you’re not already a biology nut; instead, pay attention to the sounds in your hobby (painting), or favorite sport (tennis), or place of employment (there was a great presentation several semesters back about the cosmetics counter). Saroyan focused her presentation on yoga, in particular on the breathing, and as part of the project she uploaded these four audio tracks of her performing key breathing practices: ujjahi, alternate nostril, lion’s breath, and skull shining breath:
As someone who has practiced yoga on and off for close to two decades, and who recently has begun exploring tai chi, I was reminded in Saroyan’s work that for all the physicality of breathing, there is a specifically sonic aspect by which one can gauge one’s form. It was also a useful reminder than not all vocal sounds are verbal — that, in fact, some aren’t even produced in the same manner we generally associate with vocal sounds.
November 7, 2013
Disquiet Junto Project 0097: Ford Madox Ford Page 99 Remix
Each Thursday at the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate.
This assignment was made in the afternoon, California time, on Thursday, November 7, with 11:59pm on the following Monday, November 11, 2013, as the deadline.
These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto:
Disquiet Junto Project 0097: Ford Madox Ford Page 99 Remix
This week’s project takes as its source a comment attributed to the author Ford Madox Ford: “Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.” We will convert text from page 99 of various books into music.
Step 1: Pick up the book you are currently reading, or otherwise the first book you see nearby.
Step 2: Turn to page 99. Confirm that the page has enough consecutive text in it to add up to 80 characters.
Step 2a: If the page is blank or otherwise has no text, turn to page 98. Continue this process of moving backward through the book until your find an appropriate page.
Step 2b: If you are reading an ebook that lacks page numbers, or a book that happens to lack page numbers, then use the first page of the main body of the book (i.e., not the Library of Congress information or the table of contents) or flip to a random spot/page in the book.
Step 3: When you have located 80 consecutive characters, type them into a document on your computer or write the down on a piece of paper.
Step 4: You will turn these characters into music by following the following rules:
Step 4a: The letters A through L will correspond with the notes along the chromatic scale from A to G#. To convert a letter higher than L, simply cycle through the scale again (i.e., L = G#, M = A, etc.). Capital letters should be played slightly louder than lowercase letters.
Step 4b: Any spaces and any dashes/hyphens will be treated as blank, as a silent moment.
Step 4c: A comma or semicolon will signify a note one step below the preceding note.
Step 4d: A period, question mark, or exclamation point will signify a note one step above the preceding note.
Step 4e: All other punctuation (colon, ampersand, etc.) will be heard as a percussive beat.
Step 5: Record the piece of music using a digital or analog instrument.
Step 6: Set the pace for the recording to between 160 and 80 beats per minute (BPM). In other words, the track should be between 30 and 60 seconds in length.
Step 7: Add any desired underlying music or sound bed, and any additional instrumentation, but the melody resulting from Step 6 should be the most prominent sound.
Deadline: Monday, November 11, 2013, at 11:59pm wherever you are.
Length: Your track should have a duration of between 30 and 60 seconds.
Information: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Name the book and share the 80 characters that were the source of your melody.
Title/Tag: Include the term “disquiet0097-page99remix” in the title of your track, and as a tag for your track.
Download: Please consider employing a license that allows for attributed, commerce-free remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).
Linking: When posting the track, be sure to include this information:
More on this 97th Disquiet Junto project, in which music is decoded from a phrase in a book, at:
http://disquiet.com/2013/11/07/disqui...
More details on the Disquiet Junto at:
http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet...
Image via wikipedia.org.
November 6, 2013
When a Noise Force …
Noise music has an indeterminate quality, a quality that defies common conceptions of sonic reproduction. By striving for a level of volume, intensity, and texture that veers toward decay, noise music challenges the listener — especially the listener to recorded noise music — to locate the proper listening environment. When a sound is intended to signal a destructive force, how can its “proper” reproduction be gauged. This live performance by the Scotland-based musician Deadwood, aka Adam Baker, has the unique ability to sound like it is shredding your speaker even when played at a very low volume. If noise music played quietly is a form of ambient music, that is not to say that the sound cannot still do damage.
Track originally posted at soundcloud.com/dead_wood. More on Deadwood, aka Adam Baker of Edinburgh, Scotland, at blotchcreek.blogspot.com.
November 5, 2013
Sonic “Sourcery”
The brief liner note reads like a recipe, or at least a shopping list of ingredients. There are six parts, each a standalone, identifiable element. The result is single minute of concatenated sound, from plucked drone through sonar ping through metallic rattle, and on into aural fragments both more and less soothing. It is exactly a minute in length and, as the title suggests, it is a piece in which mercurial action is brought about on source materials.
This is the track:
These are its contents:
guitar harmonics sans attacks
prepared banjo
electrons+zither
new age drone
prepared resonator guitar
bowed bamboo monochord
Track originaly posted for free download at soundcloud.com/laynegarrett. It is by Layne Garrett, more from whom at questionthetruth.com.
